| 13 January 2012
Without offering an opinion as to whether Andy Kennedy should return for a seventh season as basketball coach, it now looks more and more likely that the decision won't be made by the next Ole Miss athletic director. It's January 13 and the search for the next AD suppossedly hasn't even yet begun. Current AD Pete Boone announced he would retire by December 2012, but meanwhile all the biggest decisions in the Ole Miss athletic department are being made under his leadership. It makes you wonder why a change at athletic director is being made at all? If the next athletic director is going to be hamstrung by Boone's decisions or those of some outside committee then what was the point?
First, there was the hiring of Hugh Freeze. Whether you like the hire or not Freeze wasn't hired by the next AD and his contract wasn't negotiated by the new AD. Now, there's a new Nike contract. Forward Rebels wrote a lengthy post explaining the process or lack thereof behind the signing of that 7-year, $13.9 million deal. There was no competitive bidding for the contract despite the existence of other major apparel companies such as Under Armour and Adidas to name just a couple. These are the bigtime decisions for which the job of AD exists. The next AD will now be stuck with a Nike contract he didn't negotiate, and a football coach he didn't hire. With each passing week it looks more and more likely that the 2012 basketball coach (whether Kennedy or somebody else) won't be a result of a decision by the next AD either.
(By the way, if you wonder how the $13.9 million deal compares to what other schools are getting, check out this link.)
Essentially, it appears as though the next athletic director, whoever that may be (and I too think Walker Jones is probably the leading candidate), will be presiding over an athletic department for years before he finally can take vested ownership in the major decisions.
It makes no sense to me. Does it make sense to you? Let me know on Facebook or Twitter.
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